This questionnaire was found on Facebook circa 2010. One must fill in the answers as if they are living in a house with certain people. Well, I thought it’d be completely appropriate to fill it out now that I actually am in a house with people. I’m sure my roomies will agree with (almost) all my answers!

If there was someone singing in the morning who would it most likely be?
Sydney, along with Sam Hunt

If someone was considered the mom of the house, who would it be?
Nurse Harlan, all tha way

If someone had to watch you brush your teeth (every) morning, who would it be?
Leigh Anne, because she’d be telling me a story while I did it

Who would hate being in the house the most?
Other people, if even that. None of us of course!

If there was an argument in the house, who would be the ones arguing?
Seriously, none of us argue

Who would be the one missing there boyfriend that wasn’t in the house with them?
Lol, what’s a boyfriend?

A pillow fight broke out, who started it?
Sydney and Cathy, while the rest of us looked on in disgust

Someone made a fort in the laundry room, who was the kid?
Katie came over and did it

Who is the one that always comes up with stupid ideas?
Cathy, but they’re not always stupid, we just never do them

7:30 – Catherine wakes up and rollerblades to Strom so she can get her daily dose of endorphins. Leigh Anne does coffee and the Word because what else do you do in the morning?

~We are unsure what Sydney does during these hours. She’s a mysterious one, that girl.

7:55 – LA wakes Harlan up.

8:00 – Har and LA leave for class.

~We think Syd goes to class at this time, but again, we really don’t know what she’s up to.

10:00 – Har and LA get back from class. Har goes upstairs to study the Word and Biology. LA crawls into bed with Elaina, who doesn’t go to class or do homework so she just sleeps. Is she even in college?

10:30 – Lainey gets out of bed (finally) and takes her Cheerios, coffee and Bible out on the porch.

11:10 – Har goes to class again because she’s a nursing major. She has a lot of learning to do so that she can take care of us. Lainey and LA leave to go hang out at high school lunches… sketch?

3:00 – Syd is back. Her, LA and Cathy do homework (i.e. talk about life) together. Cathy wants to go on a walk but no one else (ever) does.

6:00 – Cathy and LA start preparing their supper. Syd and Lainey go to the ADPi house on the moped and pick their’s up to-go. When Har gets home, everyone eats together. (That’s a lie. It rarely happens).

8:00 – Everyone goes to their own corners of the house and does work. Except Lainey, because she doesn’t do school.

8:10 – Everyone is back in the same room, probably listening to Syd make fun of Har.

8:30 – We decide to watch A Cinderella Story and Lainey makes chocolate chip popcorn. Har gives commentary about the movie because no one has told her that it is against the rules to talk during movies.

11:30 – Group discussion about how much time we just wasted, how much work we still have to get done and how tired we are.

12:00 – The upstairs retreats to their living quarters.*

*This house is not divided.

12:30 – The downstairs falls asleep to the sound of laughter and footsteps from the upstairs, reminding us of how blessed we are to get to live with our best friends.

We have a new tradition here at the Maple Manor on Wednesdays. And it’s not wearing pink.

The Jackson Brothers graced us with their presence tonight and we’ve decided to make it a weekly visit. These boys are not only helpful, but also entertaining. They make our middle-of-the-week blues disappear.

Ben arrived and went to work on our yard. His ODC experience at YL camp served hundreds of kids and five beautiful women. This guy cut the grass AND pulled the weeds. Shout out to manliness. Then we fed him chili and chocolate chip cookies as we listened to his thoughts on deep theological matters.

Sam studied with Sydney for six hours in preparation for a Public Health exam. Thankfully, Sam and Sydney have supremely compatible music choices and study habits. Sam was super encouraging and obviously pulled most of the weight in intelligence because we all know Capstone Scholars are way above Honors College students.

Both the boys then serenaded all of us and we swooned. Combining Ben’s expert guitar skills and Sam’s angelic voice makes for a den filled with love and adoration. You can play Jack Johnson for us any day, boys.

All sarcasm aside, us Manor girls are extremely appreciative of the love we get from all our guy friends. Thank you for being great men who come alongside us in leadership and community.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
-Matthew 10:37-39

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
-Matthew 16:24-28

When Jesus asked his disciples to “take his cross” He was demanding total commitment from them. The Cross evoked a different picture to the disciples than it does today. They would have pictured violent, degrading death. We see the whole picture of the cross in Matthew 27-28. We see how Jesus carried the cross and died a horrible death but how He showered us in grace and love by becoming the last sacrifice. Matthew 10 is the first time Jesus mentioned the cross to the disciples, and I imagine “taking up the cross” had a very literal and real meaning to the 12 disciples who lived in the day where death on a cross was the death penalty.

The command is no different to me than it is to the disciples. There is no way for me to have life than to lose it. I must give up all of Leigh Anne in order to follow Christ. I must die to my selfish desires, my comforts, my white picket fence future, my lunch dates with friends, my stylish living, and so much more. I must deny myself. If I am commanded to lose my life yet my life is easy, maybe I’m not doing something right. I need to take heed of the warning in Matthew 16:28.

Taking up the cross means walking towards death. I want nothing more than to taste death if it means I gain life in Christ.